My wife gave me a couple of Christmas CDs for Christmas and so I popped them into the DVD player for some background music while we opened presents.
I realized this might have been the first time in a couple of years that I had listened to a CD without ripping it first and then listening to the MP3!
I even listen to MP3s in my car, which has a CD changer and doesn't know anything about MP3, because I create mix CDs from MP3 sources! Or I listen to MP3s via a portable device and a cassette adaptor ... or I listen to my Duo-Aria which is an MP3 player that goes straight into the cassette deck!
Regardless, it's been a _l_o_n_g_ time since I listened directly to a CD.
I honestly couldn't say if they sound better than the MP3s. I think it would take a listening test with headphones or a listening lab to hear the difference, if there is any.
© 2004 Stephen Clarke-Willson - All Rights Reserved.
I totally agree. I always feel like a Philistine about this--the fact that I can't tell any difference between a good MP3 (I rip all mine at 192kb) and a CD. Since I have five audio guys/musicians who work for me, I particularly feel like a dumbell...but I wonder if there isn't some placebo effect as far as quality goes? Actually, at least a couple of them have told me good 192kb rips are OK.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have been able to tell--and you had this in your blog a month or so ago--is the difference between a well-mastered CD and a poorly mastered one. I listen to CDs at home still, but MP3s everywhere else. I don't mess with the other formats, like Apple or Microsoft proprietary formats...mainly because they are a pain, they're not so portable or sharable. BTW, a lot of the stuff I send to people or share is kosher (like speeches, or Grateful Dead shows, which are very explicitly OK to share, and even public domain jazz performances...or files from archive.org PD archives).